The Rains Of Castamere - Part Three

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 4:49am by Division Admiral Thomas Lasky & Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Yamaguchi-Solusar & Lieutenant Commander Kameron "Foehammer" Solusar-Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 76: The Winter of My Discontent
Location: Various Locations - USS Dreamcrusher
Timeline: 1615Hrs - April 4th, 2392

"Alright Tom... Its long past time we had this conversation... You wanna know why I never came to you... Because I wasn't the one who had committed the error in the first place... You were... You threatened my wife in my own home, in front of me no less and she was pregnant carrying YOUR son!" Kameron yelled at Lasky who almost cringed in the face of the rage from the younger man.

"Then you nearly killed the woman who was good enough to accept me into her family... Torilla... I heard what happened... You had her in a hangman's grip and almost killed her..." Kameron kept his voice level and controlled, there was however no mistaking the anger in his voice.

"I know... I remember all of it.. " Lasky responded quietly. "Zara..." he stopped as he sighed. "I'm Sorry Kam... for all of it, all my mistakes, all my transgressions... all my errors in judgement... all my....all mine.."

"You know what they say about forgiveness..." Kameron responded quietly. "If it were offered, would you accept it?"

"It will never come..." Lasky responded quietly. "Yes I know... Others may one day tell me that they have forgiven me... Hell Torilla might someday tell me that... " Lasky regarded Kameron with a soft look in his eyes. "But that is about them, as importing forgiveness is a mercy... "But I do not deserve it... I will never find personal redemption for my crimes against your family."

"But you suffered long enough Tom..." Kameron responded. "I've never carried a grudge... as Elizabeth was able to convince me to let it go.. She said I was being irrational..." Kameron smiled as the door opened and in walked Elizabeth Yamaguchi.

"Its strange isn't it... That I'm the irrational one while Beth here was pregnant and she's the level headed one." Kameron indicated his wife who looked somewhat mystified. "Okaaay... What am I so rudely interrupting?" Elizabeth inquired of the two men.

"I came... to apologize... Not to atone.." Lasky responded quietly.

"Not to atone.?" Elizabeth inquired. "Do you think forgiveness is beneath you?" the tall woman inquired, a soft tone in her voice, not hard and ruthless as one was expecting.

"I do not feel myself worthy of it" Lasky admitted softly. "What I did was wrong... evil.."

"Because imparting it is a blessing from others to you..." Elizabeth responded. "Tom, you've lived with this for over a year now... What you did to my mother-"

"I will sort that out with your mother. To her face alone.." Lasky sighed as he watched husband and wife share a look. "Its time I stopped running from my demons.... and I just... broke up with Zara Tane... More like I just... blew up at her... and I'm probably about to flush my career and assignment to Roanoke down the crapper... But before it all blows up in my face... I wanted to sort out my problems while I still had the ability to do so."

"I can respect that. Tom.." Elizabeth responded. "But don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?"

"No... Zara and I won't be able to work together again after this.." he sighed as he sat down in a chair. "Let's face it, she's my bosses boss... and I can only imagine what Torilla will say or think when I tell her about this little disaster... considering I defended Zara to everyone and she nearly got my friend killed..." Lasky sighed as if confessing something.

"Saki?" Kameron responded, he was more curious than anything else.

"Yes... I fought for Zara in front of all others. I defended her and she's not learned anything, she's not improved and she's not sorted herself out...." Lasky sat back. "I've destroyed everything I had in the process.." he paused. "If she was this irresponsible with Saki... What's she going to be like with Kurt?"

Elizabeth paused as she sat down in the chair across from where Lasky was sitting. "I see now why you came before us..."

"What about Kurt?" Kameron responded.

"Kurt will not be affected by this. He is only a couple of months old..." Lasky sighed softly. "I wish Torilla hadn't been so quick to decide to not take him in."

Elizabeth shared another look with Kameron. "But you know why mom didn't take my brother in?"

"I do.." Lasky responded quietly. "Otherwise she would have demanded that she and Jake raise him among their other children."

"Exactly." Elizabeth responded. "Tom... Don't do this to yourself... You're questioning every single last decision you ever made.. You are still a good man, a decent man and you coming here today after this proves it."

Kameron nodded. "Yeah... Tom, I've seen that look in the faces of pilots who made that one mistake too many and someone got killed... You didn't do anything wrong... You came to us to explain yourself to us... Not to earn our forgiveness..."

"I wanted your understanding."

Kameron nodded. "Time has made me wise.. You were protecting someone you cared for." he regarded Elizabeth. "Had it been Elizabeth here who had been hypnotized rather then Zara...." Kameron spread his arms as if beckoning on a question from Lasky. "Would I have done anything different?"

Lasky decided to take something of a leap of faith. "I'm glad you didn't need to face that decision, then and now Kameron... I don't know what you would have done and... I don't think I want to guess either."

"Probably not a wise plan.." Kameron chuckled softly as he agreed with Lasky. "So... What will you do now?"

Lasky suddenly realized what his next move was. "Go apologize to Torilla and hope she doesn't strangle me from across the room... Though I admit.. Its more then-"

"Tom..." Elizabeth looked tired as she pushed her hair back out of her eyes. "Don't assume anything... Go see her and talk to her... If you want. I'll let her know that you're coming... and I'll tell her that we got our issues resolved.."

"Elizabeth you owe me-"

"I owe you the chance for you to look us in the eye and apologize... You did that... and you gave us the time to say our piece too.." Elizabeth explained. "Now I know once and for all... That I was right about you all along, Thomas Lasky. You are a good man who made a mistake..."

Lasky wasn't sure of what to say. "I'm Sorry Elizabeth."

"Tom. What happened then was simply you defending someone you cared about... Granted you could have handled it better but you could have handled it worse too...." Elizabeth explained.

"Yeah." Lasky agreed quietly. "I could have killed her..."

"I forgive you, Tom Lasky, for what you said and did to me..." Kameron said quietly. "The fact that you came and had the guts to apologize to us while leaving our past friendship and mentorship out of it... You also didn't pull rank whereas you very easily could have." Kameron knew that forgiveness was a blessing that Lasky said he didn't deserve but the younger man wasn't going to carry this on, this ended today.

"I realized that I had left this alone for far far too long... I should have addressed it last year.." Lasky admitted.

"Well, time factor doesn't matter as the simple fact is.." the tall woman breathed in and then back out again. "You came to us rather then letting it go on.." Elizabeth smiled. "Besides I got over what happened long ago... I bore you no ill will then or now..."

"You are too kind Elizabeth..." Lasky responded.

"You are too hard on yourself, despite what happened... You weren't the only one who committed blind errors in judgment that day Tom." Kameron responded quietly. "You didn't throw a knife at my mother's face... or threaten her after the fact... or deny her chance of escape from the situation... You said your peace and then you let it go... I respect that... Then you tried to resolve things with me while we were in the brig... Even telling the powers that be that it was you who initiated things and not me. You saved my career that day... I respected that, then and now..."

Lasky listened in silence, these two had all the cards and they could sit in judgment over him if they so desired.

"I don't have to like what you did... but I do respect it and I also understand it.." Kameron explained with a smile. "You also made amends to Mom later."

"For a lot of good that did.." Lasky responded with a shake of his head.

"Well, that one wasn't your fault... Tom, you were caught up in a truly impossible situation caused by Zara Tane... Mom wanted reassignment and Zara denied her so... Mom regressed into acting like a trapped animal, backed into a corner." Elizabeth responded with a smile as she explained. "Its why she went around Zara to someone, hell anyone else who could help her."

"I hated that.." Lasky responded, his eyes had narrowed as he breathed in and out quickly. "Zara nearly destroyed my friend's sanity by refusing to let her escape this ship... I was angry with Zara for that, even telling her to let Torilla go, she would never come back and it was best to let her leave... I've known your mother for almost twenty years and I'd never seen that angry... " Lasky sighed softly as he cringed, it had nothing to do with the cold in these quarters.

Lasky's focus in his eyes seemed to fade out as he explained, clearly, he was recalling events. "When she laid eyes on me after the confrontation she had with Zara... Well.. I thought she was going to strangle me..." Lasky admitted. "I've never been one to hide my feelings... and she scared me witless, she just walked past me and... I wanted to run as fast as I could... Just to get away from her..."

Kameron regarded Lasky. "That wasn't your fault Tom. Don't blame yourself for the misdeeds of others..."

"That's unimportant... I have to face up to my responsibility for being involved... Had Torilla indeed acted against me, it would have been no different either way... She had gotten her message across."

"Mom was going through a bad time then... You didn't cause it." Kameron responded.

"Not directly, but I was still involved all the same.." Lasky responded.

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Well, I can't argue with you, Tom. Your logic is sound and you'll be alright... Once you stop beating yourself up for what happened... Mom stopped caring about it. Since she got the Courageous, she was determined to move on in life... Kameron and I also stopped worrying about it..."

"Indeed... Well. I have best go... I need to go and face Torilla, once and for all... and see what she has to say to me."

"You want me to let her know you're coming?"

Lasky rose to his feet. "No.," he said quietly. "No... It would cause more issues.. Thank you though.."

"Alright... I wish you luck." Kameron responded before he walked the older man to the door and he saw Lasky out. As the door closed he turned to his wife who was looking at him. "You believe that just happened?"

"Yes," Elizabeth responded simply as Kameron tapped the PADD once that Lasky had left on the table earlier. "What's that?" Elizabeth inquired.

"Its a recording of what was said before you got here... Las-Tom... Tom" Kameron stammered then stopped then started again. "Tom didn't want you to miss anything he said to me." he breathed out. "He also wanted a reminder of his failure..."

Elizabeth rose to her feet. "I hope mom is in a forgiving mood.."

"Me too" Kameron responded as he gently slid an arm over his wife's shoulders. "Me too..."